National Division

Compared to Qi Zhang's unspeakable depression, Qi Jun was a little excited besides his anger: "Who told you that Zhaoming Hall was on fire?" At that time, the person he sent to inform Zhibai must have not arrived at the observatory. How did he come by such a coincidence?

Zhibai said nonchalantly, "Dragon Qi is soaring in the Zhaoming Palace, and it is suddenly hit by fire energy, so you can see it naturally."

"So you really borrowed the dragon spirit from the former emperors of Zhaoming Palace by spraying water into rain?" Qi Jun was a little surprised, he thought Zhibai was flattering Emperor Jing'an.

Zhibai grinned: "Of course not. If dragon energy can spread clouds and rain, wouldn't it be cloudy and rainy wherever your majesty goes?"

"You——" Qi Jun looked at him with both a smile and a smile, this liar, he just spit out a lie.

Feng En said sincerely from the side: "The immortal master is really a magic trick, otherwise I'm afraid I will be slandered by the Second Highness again today."

Zhibai waved his hand: "What is this? The skill of spraying water into rain has been practiced to the extreme. A sip of water can solve the disaster of a city thousands of miles away. I am just close at hand. It's nothing more than death." The middle-aged man did not die because of a lightning strike, I am afraid his soul is still in the palace."

"The soul is still there?" Qi Jun immediately lifted his spirits, "Maybe you saw it? Could you ask the cause of his death? Maybe—try to let the emperor know the truth?"

Zhibai scratched his head: "This is where you need to support the spirit. You must first put away the soul of this person, and then—"

Qi Jun interrupted his technical explanation: "What do you need? I'll ask someone to prepare it immediately!"

Zhibai thought for a while: "I want a copper plate, a pen and paper, cinnabar, and a strand of hair from this man."

These things couldn't be simpler, Feng En prepared them within a moment, hidden them in his clothes and secretly brought them into the warm pavilion next to the Zhaoming Hall - if this kind of thing was discovered, it would be really unclear.

Zhibai cut out a small figure out of paper, wrapped the lock of hair around the neck of the paper figure, and dipped in cinnabar to draw some strange symbols on the back of the paper figure. Wipe a few strokes.Qi Jun watched from the side and saw that he drew the eyebrows and eyes of paper figurines. Although there were only a few strokes, he could already see that it was very different from when he first entered the palace. Calligraphy and painting have improved a bit."

Zhibai's expression was serious: "Your Highness, this is summoning the soul, don't laugh at it. This soul is dying, or has resentment. If it sees people laughing, it may become angry and possess it."

Before he finished speaking, Feng En shivered cleverly, and Qi Jun couldn't help but put away his smile.At this time, Zhaoming Palace was already quiet, and in the middle of the night, the fire had just been put out, and the palace people were both troubled and frightened. They just tidied up the pine and cypress garden and went back to their servants. Candlelight, it was really dark.

Feng En subconsciously swallowed his saliva.For fear of being discovered, the three of them couldn't even carry a lamp, but the bright moon in the sky was covered by clouds at this time, and the cold wind blew among the half-burned pines and cypresses around him. It's cold.I only heard Zhibai muttering something in his mouth, but the voice was too low for Feng En to hear clearly. He was pricking up his ears to discern carefully, when he heard Zhibai suddenly raise his voice slightly: "Zhou Qing, come here!" ——" The word xi has a long ending sound, which is indescribably weird in the quiet night.

Feng En was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that Zhou Qing was the name of the middle-aged man. He stretched his neck and looked forward, but Zhibai suddenly stopped, so Feng En just stretched out his head, just in time to see the inside of the copper plate. The little paper man in front of him is staggering to stand up.

A gust of cold air seemed to pour in from Tianling Gai, Feng En opened his mouth involuntarily, wanting to exclaim, but his tongue seemed to be frozen, and in the end, he could only let out a gasping low cry: "Come on, coming……"

The little paper man swayed and finally stood up.Even Qi Jun was startled by this scene, but Zhibai read a few words softly, held the plate with his left hand, and made a handprint on the copper plate with his right hand for a week, then the little paper man lay down again.Zhibai pinched it neatly and handed it to Qi Jun: "Okay."

Qi Jun subconsciously reached out to pick it up, but Feng En yanked his sleeve: "Your Highness, don't touch it!" This is really terrifying.

When Qi Jun was pulled by him, he realized that there was a soul attached to the paper figurine, and he couldn't help but retract his outstretched hand: "This, you should hold this. How can we find out the cause of his death?"

Zhibai didn't realize that he had already frightened the two of them, so he stuffed the paper figurine into his sleeve casually: "This man's lifespan has reached the end of his life, and when he dies, his soul will be scattered. I only received the remaining four souls." Po, although he can also support the spirit, I am afraid that he cannot be expected to answer every question like a stranger. If His Highness wants to support the spirit, it is better to go to the observatory."

"Your Highness——" Feng En's voice trembled slightly, "We'll discuss the matter of supporting the spirit tomorrow. Today, today is His Highness's wedding day!" He also suddenly remembered that there is still a princess in the East Palace. Waiting for the bridal chamber!

Qi Jun was stunned, he had already forgotten about the princess concubine: "Forget it, if it is possible to support the spirit someday?"

"Success." Zhibai replied cheerfully, "Why don't I go back to the observatory to hold up the spirits first, anyway, I know what His Highness wants to ask, His Highness—" He squeezed his eyes, "Let's go back to the bridal chamber for flowers and candles."

"Bold, even my Highness dares to make fun of you!" Zhibai made such a grimace, and the eerie feeling that had penetrated into the bone marrow of the person suddenly dissipated. Qi Jun laughed and cursed, after all, he was thinking about Zhao Yue, and turned back with Feng En. To the East Palace.

As soon as Qi Jun entered the door, he saw that Zhao Yue had changed and cleansed his face. He was curled up on the Acacia bed in a red jacket and fell asleep.The maid she married into the palace saw that Qi Jun stood up quickly, Qi Jun waved his hands quickly, and said in a low voice: "Don't wake up your master."

But the maid still turned around to call Zhao Yue, and said in her mouth: "Miss ordered, His Highness must wake her up when he comes back."

Qi Jun frowned: "Since we are married, we must call him the Crown Princess, not Miss anymore."

The maid quickly agreed, Zhao Yue had already sat up, and called sleepily: "Your Highness—"

"Woke you up?" Qi Jun walked over apologetically.

"Why did Your Highness come back at this time?" Zhao Yue rubbed her eyes and complained softly, "Why are you so wet? Xiangyao, quickly prepare hot water for Your Highness to take a bath, and then fetch clean clothes!" As she said that, she wanted to get up Undress him.

Qi Jun hurriedly stopped her: "Don't get your body wet, just let the maid come." As he spoke, he smelled the scent of sweet-scented osmanthus, and couldn't help frowning slightly, "Do you like the scent of sweet-scented osmanthus? "

"Yes." Zhao Yue brushed her temples lightly, and said with a smile, "This is Guiyue Zhai's best osmanthus hair oil, does your Highness like it?"

Qi Jun couldn't say whether he liked it or disliked it, so he could only say: "The smell is sweet, but it's a little bit stronger, and it's a bit greasy when mixed with the incense in the room."

Two smiles appeared on Zhao Yue's cheeks: "That's right, I also think the incense burning in the room is a bit compelling, but the palace man said it was a gift from the queen mother - I also brought some rose incense in, and I will use it later How about rose scent?"

Qi Jun was startled, not knowing how to reply, and after a while he vaguely agreed, and went into the clean room to take a bath.After soaking in the hot water, he sighed, thinking to himself that two people who had never met before suddenly became husband and wife, and it was inevitable that they would not get along well, that's all, after getting along for a long time in the future, it will naturally get better...

One month after the prince's wedding, the second prince got married, and after that, he had to prepare for the New Year. The whole palace was really busy.Especially next February is the [-]th birthday of Emperor Jing'an, this year's Longevity Festival has not been held due to his tour, and next year will happen to be a big one, so the six bureaus, one division and even the yamen workshops outside the palace are all spinning like a windmill.

Qi Jun took two brochures from Hanying Hall and walked out slowly.In recent years, the New Year's greetings from all over the country are like hills, most of which are clichés with no real content, so Emperor Jing'an simply threw them all to the prince, and he didn't even come over from the Hanying Hall.

Although he was busy, Qi Jun was in a very happy mood.Zhao Di was quite capable. He went to the northwest border for three months, organized the border guards in an orderly manner, and even won a small victory in early November.Usually in September and October, when the grass is yellow and the horses are fat, there are always some small teams in the name of "bandits" on Jienu's side. Each of these teams is equipped with a healthy horse, and they come and go like the wind, and they fight whenever they can. , Hit and leave, hard to guard against, it's just like twisting 'generally annoying.At this time every year, the military newspapers sent are not very good-looking, and the court has to be urged for money and food.Zhao Di went there this year, set up an ambush at Gufengkou, and wiped out a group of about 200 "rogue bandits", which greatly boosted the morale of the Sheng Dynasty army, severely frightened the Jienu, and made the "rogue bandits" who committed border crimes this year "Bandits" are less.Emperor Jing'an read the excerpt and appreciated it very much. In addition to rewarding Zhao Di, he also let the queen reward the crown princess with a box of gems.

Because of such a happy event, Qi Jun was very busy.In the matter of war, the soldiers and horses went first before the food and grass were moved. Although Zhao Di led the Northwest Army, there were no troops from the Donggong faction in the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of War. Some thoughts to urge, so that Zhao Di's new official will give more benefits to his subordinates, so that the use of troops will be smoother.

"Master Meng?" Qi Jun was thinking about who would come, and when he looked up, he saw Meng Yang, the servant of the Ministry of War, turning from another road, so he stopped to say hello.

"I greet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." Meng Yang hurriedly saluted.

"Where is Meng Shilang going?" Qi Jun turned around and walked with him, asking with a smile.

"It's just a little thing..." Meng Yang said politely, but seemingly casually said, "I heard that after winter this year, the southwest is colder than usual."

Feng En, who was following behind, vaguely heard the word Southwest, and couldn't help but glanced at Meng Yang lightly from the corner of his eyes.It sounds like chatting, but Meng Yang, a military servant, how did he know that the southwest is colder than usual?He followed Qi Jun to critique papers in Hanying Hall every day, and it seemed that there was no such paper from the Southwest Newspaper.

Feng En was thinking about it, Qi Jun had already said a few words to Meng Yang about the weather in various places and said goodbye, seeing Feng En's puzzled face in a blink of an eye, he couldn't help but smiled softly: "I don't understand?"

"The maid felt that Meng Shilang said 'Southwest' or something, as if..." Did he mean something?

"That's right." Qi Jun nodded, "It's cold in the Southwest this winter, and the padded coats and shoes in the army alone are worth a lot of money. What about the northwest? What about the northeast?"

"So——" Feng En felt a little unbelievable, "Meng Shilang——why?" Meng Yang clearly sent the news secretly, but he was not from the Eastern Palace School before, so what is the reason for this sudden change?

Qi Jun glanced in the direction of Liangyi Hall, with a cold smile on the corner of his lips: "For Meng Jieyu." Meng was selected by Emperor Jing'an for singing, but she is not stunning in appearance, After entering the palace for three months, it was not lukewarm. After serving the bed, Emperor Jing'an was promoted to Jieyu as usual, and then it was forgotten.

Feng En still didn't quite understand: "What's wrong with Meng Jieyu?" Even if he was not favored, Qi Jun couldn't help it. Could he still help Meng Jieyu to win the favor?

"Meng's is only 16 years old this year, do you think she really wants to serve her father?" Emperor Jing'an is already forty, and being Meng's father is too old.Back then when the Meng family sang by the pool, they might not have sung it for Emperor Jing'an, but Emperor Jing'an heard it. Who should the Meng family blame for what happened here?

Feng En was stunned: "It turns out that this is why His Highness sent servants to spread the news?" Meng's women ran for the election, most likely for the two princes, maybe they were aiming at the position of the second prince and concubine, but the result was Being chosen abruptly by Emperor Jing'an shows the attitude of Ye's party towards the Meng family.Since this is the case, why should the Meng family rely on it?What's more, Meng Jieyu is the youngest daughter in the family, and Meng Yang is an old daughter. I heard that she loves her very much.

"It's really too good to calculate all the tricks." Qi Jun seemed to be talking to himself, "I just forgot that people are not chess pieces, chess pieces are at your mercy, but people have people's hearts." He straightened The body seemed to be refreshed suddenly, "Go, go to the Tai Chi Hall to see the father, this matter of the military salary, before the booklet is handed in, let's go and talk to the father first."

It was dusk when he came out of the Taiji Hall. Feng En was not qualified to enter the Taiji Hall, but he could guess from Qi Jun's expression that things were probably going well.He didn't dare to inquire without authorization, so he just went up to meet him and said with a smile: "Your Highness—return to the East Palace?"

"Go back." Qi Jun was in a good mood, "Go and see what the princess is doing." He has been married for three months, and to be honest, he can't spend much time with Zhao Yue. To accompany her, after all, she is his wife, and they will spend the rest of their lives together in the future.What's more, he has settled the matter of the military salary in the Northwest, and he also wants someone to talk about the joy in his heart.

Ever since the Crown Princess entered the East Palace, it has indeed become more lively. As soon as Qi Jun entered the palace gate, he saw people in the yard busy replacing the chrysanthemums that had failed to bloom, and placing new flowers that had just been brought out of the greenhouse. .Needless to say, the East Palace was originally dominated by pine and bamboo, and it became a little gloomy in autumn and winter. This year, the chrysanthemums were placed, which made it look more lively.

Qi Jun was in a happier mood, and walked quickly into the main hall. As soon as he reached the door of the inner hall, he heard crackling sounds.He had heard this voice countless times since he was a child, and when he looked up, it was indeed a little palace maid kneeling on the ground and slapping her mouth. Zhao Yue was sitting on top, her face full of displeasure.

"What's the matter?" Qi Jun's good mood dissipated a little.

"Your Highness——" Zhao Yue quickly stood up, with a smile on her face, and waved to the little maid, and the big maid next to her immediately took the little girl away, "Xiang Yao, bring tea!"

Qi Jun sat down next to her, took the hot tea from Xiangyao casually, and didn't care about the little maid's business—there are countless such things in the palace, and it's always the slave who made a mistake and offended the master. , He had something more important to tell Zhao Yue, "The military salary for this winter has been allocated, and [-]% of it can be paid in the northwest."

"Ninety percent?" Zhao Yue's eyes widened, "I remember my father said before leaving that I'm afraid that he will be kind to the northwest. How can father be kind to ninety percent of the military salary?"

"You don't know something." Qi Jun laughed, "When the military salary is not paid in full, it is already great to be able to pay [-]% of it." The generals asked for [-]% of the military pay, and it was enough for each soldier in the northwest to receive the full amount of silver pay, and there was still money to buy thicker cotton clothes and a few more tooth sacrifices.

Zhao Yue was rather disapproving: "What does the household department know? Serving as a soldier is just to get food and pay. If there is no money, who is willing to sacrifice his life? Your Highness should also urge the household department again. It is difficult for my father to do everything at the border. Your Highness must also be considerate."

Qi Jun's good mood just now dissipated a bit, and he just said: "You don't understand." He bowed his head and drank his tea.This tea is not the silver needle Maofeng he usually drinks, but it has the fragrance of jasmine, which is quite uncomfortable. Qi Jun put the teacup aside, "Feng En, change the silver needle."

"Your Highness doesn't like this scented tea?" Zhao Yue quickly waved her hand to the fragrant medicine, "Go and brew the silver needles, and use the lotus dew that bloomed this morning."

"These days are busy, what do you do in the palace?" Qi Jun looked around, the place where he lived for more than ten years had changed in the past few months.The dowry of the princess is made in the palace, so that it is exquisite and precious, and because it is a festive event, the colors are also bright and lively.Where he used to put the blue vase, he replaced it with a plate of colorful birds and phoenixes, a pot of agate bonsai on the window sill, and even the window paper was replaced with Korean paper with peach blossoms painted on it. strangeness.

"It's nothing." Zhao Yue lowered her head and tugged at the silk handkerchief in her hand, "I go to Zichen Hall every day to pay my respects to my mother, and accompany my mother to talk, and come back after dinner in the afternoon."

Hearing some resentment in her words, Qi Jun frowned slightly: "What's the matter? But bored with idleness? In a few days, I'm afraid there will be something to do. It's the twelfth lunar month in the palace, and it's very busy."

"No." Zhao Yue waved her hands in a bit of resentment, "How can I be free? This is not what the mother and queen ordered today. It's time to bring His Highness's two Liang Dies into the palace, and the concubine is taking her place. They are arranging the palace."